The Make It Fly team would like to extend a big thank you to everyone that took part in the inaugural Make It Fly competition.

We certainly enjoyed seeing some of the amazing designs that teams from all across New Zealand came up with and given the feedback we have received we can safely say that the competition was very much enjoyed by the people that matter most….you guys!

The competition couldn’t have been such a success if it wasn’t for the fantastic support we received from the teachers and parents who gave up their time to support us and of course for all of the teams that took part.

The enthusiasm and excitement we saw around the country from all of the teams that took part was a source of great inspiration to us and the dedication and thought that went into some truly amazing designs was quite outstanding!

We would also like to take this opportunity to tell you that Make It Fly will be back bigger and better in 2009, so if you missed out this year or are itching for another crack at making it fly, watch this space for upcoming news about Make It Fly 2009! J

Thank you once again

The Make It Fly Team

Hi All!

At long last, Make It Fly 2008 has drawn to a close with an amazing final which took place on the 19th October at the Trusts Stadium in Auckland. 20 teams from Auckland, Napier, Nelson, Motueka, Invercargill & Christchurch made it to the final which which was competed in high spirits & was a really amazing day!  

The winners......

The Xenomorphs also known as Hamish Mckay, Rowan Lingstone & Nick Winwood from James Hargest College in Invercargill scooped the grand prize, their plane flew an amazing 101 metres and admittedly would have gone further but for hitting the wall. What a great effort and the boys chose a trip to a Gold Coast Theme Park as their prize as well as $20,000 worth of equipment for their school....they also took home the golden Make It Fly trophy!

The Xenomorphs collecting their prizes from our engineering General Manager, Chris Nassenstein

In 2nd place was the Incredible Plane Inventors Duo from Christchurch, this 2 man team of Hayden Becker & Isaac Westenra certainly managed to put together a very ingenious design with their best flight being 77 metres. Their plane also won the nickname "The Boomerang" for is tendency to fly back towards the thrower! The boys took the 2nd place trophy as well as 6 months subscriptions to Rip It Up magazine.

The Indredible Plane Inventors Duo scoop 2nd prize!

3rd place went to Jewfish whose team members Adam Benesman, Hugh Manning, Jeese O'Keefe and Tim Smith from Kaikoura High School can be proud of their effort, their final throw went a very respectable 49 metres almost twice as far as their previous best! They also won subscriptions to Rip it Up magazine as well as the hand crafted bronze trophy.  

Kaikoura's Jewfish with their 3rd place prize!

The creative design prize on the day was a split decision, it went to K-Boys from Kelston Boys High in Auckland and TGS1 "I Can Fly" from Takapuna Grammar also in Auckland, both teams won an Air New Zealand simulator experience!  

We will be posting all the results from the final shortly and we would also like to say a big thanks to everyone that came along, you made it a truly memorable day.  

Cheers

The Make It Fly Team

Hello!

Congratulations and a big THANK YOU to all of you who participated in our Regional Events all accross the country!

Nows the time to start getting REALLY excited because we would like to announce the details of the Final!

It will be held on Sunday October 19th at The Trusts Stadium, 65-67 Central Park Drive, Lincoln, Henderson.  We expect to kick off the first round of throws at 12:30, so arriving between 12 noon and 12:25pm will be optimal.

We hope to see all the finalists there, and if you have not RSVP'ed to Andy [andrew.owen@airnz.co.nz] or Emma [emma.price@airnz.co.nz], please do so now.

Thank you and good luck,

 The Make It Fly Team.

We would like to express a HUGE thanks to Rip It Up Magazine for helping with some really cool prizes for the Finals!

www.ripitup.co.nz

Sorry for the delay in getting these results up but due to the busy jet setting nature of the Make It Fly team i just haven't had the chance, top 16 teams go to the final on the 19th October. We will also be taking a few wildcards to the final for the designs we liked the best! We only have 2 more schools to attend so the final standings will be up shortly!

1st    Team Nelson, Nelson College                                    34.80m + (hit the wall) 

2nd   Backdraft, Westlake Boys High School                       34.76m

3rd    K-Boys, Kelston Boys High School                             34.11m

4th    Flight Co-ordinators, Onehunga High School                33.20m

5th    Team X, Kelston Boys High School                             32.03m

6th    We Prefer Rockets, Kelston Boys High School              32m                                     

7th    K.G.B, Motueka High School                                      29.39m

8th    Westside, Garin College                                            29.15m

9th    Pages Pupils, Rosmini College                                    29.13m

10th    Flying Crackers, Carmel College                                28.17m

11th  Jewfish, Kaikoura High School                                    28.10m

12th Vortex, Tauhara College                                             28m

13th  Black Night, Garin College                                         24.70m 

14th  TGS5 "I Can Fly", Takapuna Grammar School             23.79m

15th  Aviation Ant Farmers, Napier Girls High School            23.20m 

16th  TGS2 "I Can Fly", Takapuna Grammar School             23.16m

There will be 15 team places up for grabs for the Make It Fly Grand Final on the 19th October....

As you will already be aware the Make It Fly team will be visiting all regions of New Zealand to judge your efforts (we really can't wait to see what you have come up with ), there will be numerous spot prizes available for the best designs & most original but ultimately it will be the 15 team accross New Zealand who's "Aircraft" go the furthest distance that will be competing in the final.

Those 15 teams will be flown up to Auckland for the final! So good luck and see you soon!

 Are you ready for the big fly-off!?

 13 September - Christchurch

Rolleston Community Centre - 13:00pm

94 Rolleston Drive, Rolleston, Christchurch

14 September - Wellington

Wellington Civic Square - 12:00pm

Behind the Town Hall, on Wakefield Street

16 September - Taihape

Taihape Area School - 12:00pm

Huia Street, Taihape

18 September - Kaikoura

Kaikoura High School - 13:00pm

Ludstone Road, Kaikoura, Marlborough

20 September - Rotorua

Rotorua Intermediate - 11:00am

93-95 Malfroy Road, Rotorua    

21 September - Auckland

Unitech - 11:00am

Gate 3, Carrington Road, (Building 174) Mt Albert

23 September - New Plymouth

To be confirmed!

24 September - Napier

Napier Girls High School - 15:00pm

Clyde Road, Bluff Hill, Hawkes Bay

25 September - Invercargill

James Hargest College - 14:30pm

288 Layard Street, Invercargill

26 September - Nelson

Nelson College - 12:00pm

67 Waimea Road, Nelson

* We will be announcing events for Dunedin, Oamuru & the Northland region over the next few days.   

The National Final will be held on the 19th October in Auckland

We will arrange travel to the final for teams travelling from around the country!     

We have had a fantastic response so far, with hundreds of teams registered from all over New Zealand & the registrations keep on coming. It’s with this in mind that we have decided to extend the competition so the registration closing date is now 10^th September. The regional events will take place on the 14^th & 21^st September, the final will take place after the school holidays on 19^th October. This now gives you that little bit more time to get that competitive edge! 

Don’t forget the are some great prizes on offer to the school that has the most student registrations, here is a quick up date on the leading schools so far…. 

1st   Rosmini College in Auckland have 34

2nd  Papanui High School in Christchurch have 33

3rd  Taihape Area School in Taihape have 31

4th  Rosehill College in Auckland have 20

5th  James Hargest College in Invercargill have 17

So with the Make It Fly competition now well under way we thought now would be the time to get our first blog up…..

No doubt you have already seen our feeble attempts at “Making It Fly” in our video, Emma & I have spent the best part of a weekend putting our aircraft together, I can tell you now it wasn’t easy & as the video shows we really struggled to take off! 

With the Red Sparrow I decided that small & nimble would be the best bet. First I cut the wings (which where based on the new 787 Dreamliners wings, oh yes!) out of cardboard & glued some light weight plastic to them to give a little more durability, then I was faced with the conundrum of how to attach them to the can. I toyed with the idea of solder and rivets to give it a real airplane feel, in the end I used super glue & cello-tape mainly because I didn’t have any solder or rivets but the thought was there at least. I made the tail out of the top of a plastic bottle & made the fins using the same method I used for the wings, again super glue was used to stick it all together. I then needed a nose cone, now as the Red Sparrow was obviously going to fly for miles I decided I would need something to cushion the landing in case of a nose dive, using a polystyrene coffee cup I fashioned a rather effective nose that would take the full impact of any fall & protect the “structural integrity” of my plane! Then it was just a case of the paint job & adding those finishing touches! By paint I mean red paper I cello-taped all over it! 

Hi Guys, Emma here… now that you’ve heard Andy’s rants about his ‘red sparrow’, you should be pleased to know that I didn’t dwell on my planes “cushioned landing” or pretty paint job. I focused on the raw durability of my craft, and using a clean-lined construction, I utilised office supplies with little or no expense to myself. Now that’s recycling! My Green Genie was a lot larger than Andy’s tiny red bird, and its presence was surely felt during our Monday morning testing. Not only did my old fashioned wings (made of plexi-glass AKA loads of glad wrap) support my Genie and allow it to soar for miles, they also created a type of water-proof effect which helped when my girl had to make a couple of emergency ‘water’ landings.. Puddles wouldn’t drain my Genies power and she kept flying high all day. Even when it started to rain and her tail fell off, she wasn’t going to let some meagre red sparrow steal her thunder. I think we all know who won, fair and square. If you don’t know, It was Emma, with her Green Genie. Always the clear favourite! 

Hmmmm, Emma’s memory must be going because it was clear that the Red Sparrow went much further then the Genie but I guess the undeniable fact is that both planes were pretty poor efforts when it came to actually Making It Fly, so now it’s down to you! If you haven’t already, visit the registration page & sign up today! 

Andy & Emma, The Make It Fly Team

03 September – Regional Events locations will be announced
 
10 September – Registration Closes
 
14 September – First Regional Events
 
21 September – Second Regional Events
 
19 October – National Finals in Auckland